Gapping by Measured Carry
Stamped lofts are a starting point, nothing more. We measure what each wedge actually carries on a full swing and find the holes. Most bags have one gap of thirty yards and one pair that overlap almost completely.
Studio Services / Wedges
Full Swings Are the Least Important Part
You will hit a wedge at full speed a handful of times a round. Everything else is three-quarters, half, and awkward. That is what we fit for.
Three things we sort
The Order of Operations
Bounce and Grind for Your Ground
How the sole interacts with turf and sand decides how forgiving the club is on a slightly heavy strike. This is fitted against where you play and how steeply you deliver, not from a chart.
Shaft Weight and Length
Wedges want to feel heavier in the head than the irons above them, which is why a wedge built with the iron set's shaft often feels vague on a half swing.
The variable nobody explains
Bounce Is a Rescue Feature
Bounce is the angle between the leading edge and the point of the sole that touches the ground first. Higher bounce means the sole hits the turf earlier and the club skids rather than digs. Lower bounce lets the leading edge get under a ball sitting tight.
Almost every amateur we measure would play better with more bounce than they own. Low-bounce wedges look sharper at address and they are unforgiving of the very strike most players make under pressure — a fraction heavy, a fraction steep.
The exception is genuinely firm ground with a tight lie, which is what late-summer Missouri fairways deliver. If you play most of your golf in August on baked turf, that changes the answer, and it is worth carrying one lower-bounce option for it.
Bounce guidance
Starting points
Steep delivery, soft turf12 to 14 degrees
Steep delivery, firm turf10 to 12 degrees
Neutral delivery8 to 12 degrees
Shallow delivery, soft turf8 to 10 degrees
Shallow delivery, firm turf4 to 8 degrees
Soft sand bunkers12 degrees and up
Overridden by what the turf strip shows on the day. Every one of these gets broken regularly.
Set makeup
How Many Wedges, and Which Lofts
The answer depends on the loft of your pitching wedge, which has quietly got stronger over the last fifteen years and opened a hole at the bottom of most bags.
| Pitching wedge loft | Suggested next | Then | Then |
|---|---|---|---|
| 43 degrees or stronger | 48 degrees | 53 degrees | 58 degrees |
| 44 to 45 degrees | 50 degrees | 54 degrees | 58 degrees |
| 46 degrees | 50 or 52 degrees | 56 degrees | 60 degrees |
| 47 degrees or weaker | 52 degrees | 56 degrees | 60 degrees |
Four to six degrees between wedges is the working rule. Bigger steps leave a yardage you have to manufacture, which is where scores leak.
Grinding
We Relieve Soles On Site
Marcus does grinding work at the bench, which means a stock sole can be relieved in the heel and toe for a player who likes to open the face, or the trailing edge taken back for someone who catches the ground early.
It is a permanent modification and we will not do it on a whim. But when a player has a wedge they genuinely like and one specific complaint about how it interacts with the ground, a grind is often a better answer than a new club.
- Heel relief for players who open the face on short shots
- Trailing edge relief for steep, early-contact deliveries
- Toe relief for a cleaner set-down on sloping lies
- Full sole camber for consistently soft ground
- Loft and lie adjustment included with any grind
Maintenance
Wedges Wear Out Quietly
Grooves lose their edge long before the club looks worn, and the first thing to go is spin on partial shots from anything less than perfect lies.
Roughly Seventy-Five Rounds
For a player practising regularly, a wedge face is measurably duller after about seventy-five rounds of use. Range mats accelerate it considerably.
Free Groove Inspection
Bring your wedges in and we will look at the edges under magnification and tell you honestly whether they are done. No charge, no appointment needed.
Fit the Shots You Actually Face
Sixty minutes on real turf, with the gapping measured rather than assumed.